“We started in our garage”, I claim with pride, hoping that their project take flight, as those of Bill Gates and Steve Jobs or Brin and Page with Google. The garage of David , Daniel and Emmanuel is not in America but in Campobasso. The brothers Lever , the three engineers, who all together did not make 90 years of age, put together to Maria Fantini – as part of their team with a giant cheque of 10,000 euro. It is that which they have received at Ecomondo fair in Rimini, by Corepla, the Italian consortium for the recovery of the plastic, as a prize for their idea-made-material: recycled glass powder and Pet in order to derive a new aggregate. Everything is circular, from the raw material, that is, that is also recyclable, to use as lining in the furniture industry.
they called It Anaktite, and it was an illumination: “we Were watching a tv programme on the recycling of glass, me and my brother Daniel – says David, 31 years old, civil engineer – we watched and we understood that there was coming the same intuition”. That re-cycle the material is not reusable, a waste of glass, that is, the dust, the sand of which the grains are too small and difficult to recycle. We are talking about approximately 90,000 tons per year. “The initial idea was to bind the glass powder with resin, but then we wondered: why not push even more on the eco-sustainability?. So we have experimented with different polymers and Pet, plastic bottles, for instance, has amazed for its mechanical properties: if you worked in a certain way is very strong, there are also gears for industrial machinery, is water repellent and is resistant to chemical agents, does not yellow and has a thermal expansion imperceptible”. The washing machine and the pizza oven, The idea began to take shape in 2015, when David, Daniel, and Emauele have put together their skills: a civil engineer first, a mechanical engineer, the second, and designers third. Together with Maria Fantini, the girlfriend of David, a graduate in business Economics for the management of the startup. And they did everything in the house: “We have re-used the motor of a washing machine to make a small ball mill, a ball mill to create powdered glass and plastic, and mixing them all together – continuous David – we put it in an old wardrobe because it makes a lot of noise. Then we bought a simple electric oven for the pizza reaches a temperature of over 200 degrees. The press have built us, with the wood bolted, serves to remove the air by squeezing the Pet loose that spreads across the entire width of the mold. So we get plates that have the hardness of glass with the mechanical properties of the Pet, the proceedings very rapid, a quarter of an hour, and from the supply chain very short.”
The development of Anaktite has also contributed to the Cnr of Naples, where David was able to perform tests that even the ingenious craft workshop at home, not allowed. Thus was born the new material, which according to the young engineers can find application in the furniture sector, for coverings of countertops or kitchens, for example, or floors. And compete with the giants of the industry: “Compared to other compounds, our is totally made of recycled material and is a thermoplastic, by heating it you can model to give the shape you want – underlines David – at the same time has the characteristics of the resins admixed with quartz grains, stone-like. But Anaktite has a much lower cost, for the most part due to the production of dust Pet. While the glass powder is already a gap in and of itself. We have already in mind a as must be the machinery to create it, we just need an entrepreneur who believes in our idea”. The prize is never received by the Region of Molise to Corepla is not the first recognition that the boys have achieved. In 2015, their idea was came third in the Molise start Cup, a competition dedicated to innovative companies. The 2,500 euro prize however, they claim, they never arrived: “for four years we send a registered and certified e-mail to ask what is it up to us, ” explains Maria Fantini – but so far we got nothing. However, we have sustained the expenses of creating an Srls, on purpose to receive the award that otherwise could not be provided. We have done everything in terms, but the Region has never answered.” In one of the letters that show in the Republic using the term “begging” to give weight to their request: “it Is a pity – adds Davide – because we would have liked to develop our project with local businesses, molise. And instead we are forced to look elsewhere”.
The prize Corepla, 10.000 euro, will be a breath of fresh air also to continue to work on the project and refine the production process, to obtain the certifications that serve and land on the market: “What interests us is not so much the 10,000 euro – confesses to David – but the opportunity to present our idea to all the companies Corepla who work in the field and find some entrepreneur who believes in our idea and is willing to invest”.
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